Short Agenda For Tuesday's Council Meeting
ANOTHER LIGHT AGENDA
The agenda for the Costa Mesa City Council meeting Tuesday, July 16th, was posted today. Not surprisingly, since it's "summertime and the livin' is easy", the agenda is a short one. That doesn't mean there are not some interesting items for your consideration. You can read the entire agenda HERE. The council has already agreed to cancel the second meeting in August, anticipating diminished activity and vacations. So, between now and Labor Day there will be this meeting and one more, on August 6th, three weeks from now.
SOMETHING NEW
When you go to that page and begin scrolling down you might fine a brand, new entry that, we're told, will appear on most agenda sheets henceforth if the Closed Session includes a segment in which there may be labor negotiations involved. On the "Regular Meeting of the City Council", right after the Roll Call you will find the following reference:
"CITY ATTORNEY CLOSED SESSION REPORT
COIN: Ex Parte Communications pursuant to Municipal Code Section 2-238 (b)"
A PLACE HOLDER FOR REPORTING OUT
This is the section where contract City Attorney Tom Duarte will, if appropriate for each meeting, "read out" information about any ex parte communications held by council members regarding labor negotiations. It will be very interesting to see how Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's COIN scheme plays out. It certainly will not streamline the negotiation process.
ARE WE EVER GOING TO BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS?
As an aside, the contract with the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) expired in March and, to my knowledge, NO negotiations have yet taken place. A quarter of the year has passed and the two parties have not met yet. Seems curious, doesn't it?
MORE LIQUOR LICENSES - REALLY?
The Consent Calendar has eight (8) items on it, some of which are particularly interesting. The first one, the Reading Folder, includes four items involving liquor licenses - two new ones and two transfers. In a city which has police officers issuing hundreds of DUI tickets each year, it always makes me wonder if so many places where you can legally buy booze is good for the city.
MORE LEGAL FEES
Item #3 is Warrant 2480, HERE, which includes a payment of $131,127.84 to Jones and Mayer for legal services. That meter just keeps spinnin'!
TRASH HAULER
Item #6 is the extension of the refuse contract for Ware Disposal to pick up trash from municipal facilities. You can read the staff report HERE, which includes links to the list of submissions by other haulers. The second place finisher is CR&R, the carrier who provides municipal trash pick up via the Costa Mesa Sanitary District. Someone may wish to check the campaign contribution lists of certain council members to see if the name "Ware" appears... just sayin'.
GOING AFTER SCOFFLAWS
The only Public Hearing on the agenda is request by staff to approve certification of special assessments for delinquent civil fines for municipal code violations, HERE. Included is a list of the delinquent fines to be considered, HERE. This could be interesting because folks on the list may choose to address the council on the fines. They may NOT challenge the original citation.
29 LIVE/WORK UNITS
There are two New Business items on the agenda. The first, HERE, is a General Plan Screening Request for a 29-unit live/work development on the Westside.
208 APARTMENTS
The second one, HERE, is a General Plan Screening request for 208 apartment units on Newport Boulevard near Ford Road. I'm going to be interested to hear the discussion on both of these items, since the rental units on Ford Road has seven times the units as the "owner occupied" units in the previous item. Our public officials continue to bemoan the "imbalance" of renters vs. owners in our city - 60- 40% - but continue to approve rental units in disproportionate numbers.
GO TO THE FAIR!
Have a great weekend. Join thousands of your fellow Orange Countians at the Orange County Fair. Enjoy one of those Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joes or a deep-fried bacon-wrapped pickle. Oh, yum!
SOMETHING NEW
When you go to that page and begin scrolling down you might fine a brand, new entry that, we're told, will appear on most agenda sheets henceforth if the Closed Session includes a segment in which there may be labor negotiations involved. On the "Regular Meeting of the City Council", right after the Roll Call you will find the following reference:"CITY ATTORNEY CLOSED SESSION REPORT
COIN: Ex Parte Communications pursuant to Municipal Code Section 2-238 (b)"
A PLACE HOLDER FOR REPORTING OUT
This is the section where contract City Attorney Tom Duarte will, if appropriate for each meeting, "read out" information about any ex parte communications held by council members regarding labor negotiations. It will be very interesting to see how Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's COIN scheme plays out. It certainly will not streamline the negotiation process.ARE WE EVER GOING TO BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS?
As an aside, the contract with the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) expired in March and, to my knowledge, NO negotiations have yet taken place. A quarter of the year has passed and the two parties have not met yet. Seems curious, doesn't it?
MORE LIQUOR LICENSES - REALLY?
The Consent Calendar has eight (8) items on it, some of which are particularly interesting. The first one, the Reading Folder, includes four items involving liquor licenses - two new ones and two transfers. In a city which has police officers issuing hundreds of DUI tickets each year, it always makes me wonder if so many places where you can legally buy booze is good for the city.MORE LEGAL FEES
Item #3 is Warrant 2480, HERE, which includes a payment of $131,127.84 to Jones and Mayer for legal services. That meter just keeps spinnin'!TRASH HAULER
Item #6 is the extension of the refuse contract for Ware Disposal to pick up trash from municipal facilities. You can read the staff report HERE, which includes links to the list of submissions by other haulers. The second place finisher is CR&R, the carrier who provides municipal trash pick up via the Costa Mesa Sanitary District. Someone may wish to check the campaign contribution lists of certain council members to see if the name "Ware" appears... just sayin'.GOING AFTER SCOFFLAWS
The only Public Hearing on the agenda is request by staff to approve certification of special assessments for delinquent civil fines for municipal code violations, HERE. Included is a list of the delinquent fines to be considered, HERE. This could be interesting because folks on the list may choose to address the council on the fines. They may NOT challenge the original citation.29 LIVE/WORK UNITS
There are two New Business items on the agenda. The first, HERE, is a General Plan Screening Request for a 29-unit live/work development on the Westside.
The second one, HERE, is a General Plan Screening request for 208 apartment units on Newport Boulevard near Ford Road. I'm going to be interested to hear the discussion on both of these items, since the rental units on Ford Road has seven times the units as the "owner occupied" units in the previous item. Our public officials continue to bemoan the "imbalance" of renters vs. owners in our city - 60- 40% - but continue to approve rental units in disproportionate numbers.
GO TO THE FAIR!
Have a great weekend. Join thousands of your fellow Orange Countians at the Orange County Fair. Enjoy one of those Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joes or a deep-fried bacon-wrapped pickle. Oh, yum!
Labels: CMCEA, COIN, Steve Mensinger, Tom Duarte, Ware Disposal
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 7/12/2013 05:05:00 PM
5 Comments:
yep , check the campaign contributions from ware.
While ur at it, check the campaign contributions and dinners from crr to sanitary board members. seems fair.
I read the trash contract and it says the term is for 2 years. with 6 one year extensions.
Wow. our residential trash has not been bid since World War II and has a trash board that protects the trash company that has the long term contract with a clause that never ends.
Some are focused on water.
Does anyone know why?
Well, perhaps it's because the trash contract is a good deal - and getting better because the Sanitary District board just announced a reduction in the fees while the Mesa Water board INCREASED the rates.
That is great. I had not heard they renegotiated the trash contract.
Where can I get information on that?
Dear finally change.
Nope. They did not make a change to the trash contract.
Nothing likely to change until changes on the board.
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